Unbroken
by surrealcereal
Summary: Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura are all dead, but how did it happen? Why does Kakashi blame himself so much? Could he have prevented it? Could anyone have?


Hello everyone! After a long battle with technology I AM BACK! Hopefully forever this time...

Anyways, I'm not going to bore you with the details of how my computer killed itself or about how I haven't had the money until now to replace it because I know EXACTLY what you guys are wanting to read, which is the finale of the Pride of the Leaf. Unfortunately I lost the data I had before for it, so please enjoy this short story instead in celebration of my return as i rewrite that 20000 word monster... ugh. I'm actually not looking forward to that but I HAVE to finish it.

This does not reflect the Pride of the Leaf, this is separate!

Anyways, I may take this short story and run with it as a full blown story later but for now:

Unbroken

Ch1 - Prelude

He stood there, a gentle breeze blowing from behind him, barely hard enough to rustle the branches of the surrounding trees. His hair, pulled back by his headband. He walked down the familiar path, his own footprints from previous trips indicated just how often he came to this place.

A gust of wend rolled by and pulled a single pedal off the bouquet of roses he carried off into the distance. He watched as it danced in the wind, rocking back and forth with the breeze.

For a second he froze as his mind traveled back to a battle fought long ago.

 _"Because you're my friend!"_

He quickly wiped away a tear as it rolled down his cheek, hoping no one had been watching him. He tightened his grip on the flowers and pushed on, trying to get the memory to go away. He knew it wouldn't though. He'd been trying for years to drink the past away, but no matter how much he drank it still wasn't enough for him to forget that day.

 _"What do you know?!"_

Another tear escaped him along with a soft sob. He tried to regain his composure as someone walked up behind him.

"Why do you torture yourself like this?" a concerned, female voice asked him. He didn't even bother to look and see who it was, he already knew. "There was nothing else you could have done."

"But you're wrong." He replied in a pained, raspy voice, still not looking at the woman. "There was so much more I could have done."

He pushed on, thankful for the company as they approached their destination.

They arrived in a small clearing. Tall trees rose up on all sides of them surrounding a single stone in the center. A few flowers grew around the stone and at the edge of the clearing.

He walked over to the stone and sat the flowers down.

 _I'm sorry I failed you..._ He thought to himself, tears now streaming uncontrollably. _Both of you._

He fell to his knees and reached out to touch the stone, his fingers tracing the familiar letters.

 _In memory of Team Kakashi members Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, and Haruno Sakura._

"I'm sorry Kakashi" Tsunade said behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder as his body shook with each sob.

"He should have been your successor Tsunade!" he cried, "Not me. Especially not now."

A tear rolled down her face and fell to the ground. "He was supposed to be." She wiped her cheek with her sleeve. "But you're the Hokage now Kakashi and you can't let their sacrifice burden you like this. If Naruto saw you like this what do you think he'd say?"

Kakashi slumped. He knew what Naruto would say but he didn't want to think about it but another voice took up the words in his head.

"If you let anything happen to Leaf Village because of a single shinobi's death, I'll replace you myself."

The silver haired man turned to see none other than Konahamaru standing behind them with his fists clenched tightly enough for his knuckles to turn white.

Kakashi knew he was being serious by the expression on his face.

He turned back to the stone, his burden heavier than ever now.

"Then I'll make this my last visit." He said softly, "But could you guys give me a moment alone?"

Tsunade nodded in reply and turned to Konahamaru who reluctantly complied.

As soon as he was sure he was alone, Kakashi let his mind wander back to how the whole ordeal began and why it had ended the way it did.

 _If only I'd have known..._ He cried in his mind _If only I had known..._

 _END CH1_

 _So I decided like halfway through it I would definitely like to run with this story. I've already started on the finale of The Pride of the Leaf and it will be the conclusion of that story FOR NOW. I'm going to take a break from it before writing the sequel story and try and get a better idea of the direction I would like it to take. But for now I hope you all enjoy this and expect an update to my other story as well._

 _-SurrealCereal-_


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